MANILA, Philippines — Filipina teen sensation Alexandra Eala joined Davis Cupper Francis Casey Alcantara in the elite club of Filipino junior grand slam champions, duplicating the latter’s stellar feat at the Australian Open yesterday.
Eala, 14, teamed up with Indonesian Priska Madelyn Nugroho to capture the junior girls’ doubles crown via a masterful 6-1, 6-2 drubbing of Slovenian Ziva Falkner and British Matilda Mutavdzic at Melbourne Park.
Eala struck gold 11 years after Alcantara and his Taiwanese partner Hsieh Cheng Peng reigned supreme in boys’ doubles in the season-opening slam Down Under.
Bouoyed by their epic three-set caper past the top-seeded pair of Latvian Kamilia Bartone and Czech Linda Fruhvirtova in Thursday’s semis, Eala and Nugroho came out swinging against Falkner and Mutavdzic.
The Southeast Asians landed 18 winners against only one for their rivals and scored four aces, while getting 78 percent of their first serve in (33-of-42) and winning 28 of them in this 49-minute demolition job.
Eala and Nugroho racked up the first five games of the initial frame to set the tone.
The Europeans gave a tougher challenge in the second set and stayed within reach at 3-2 before Eala and Nugroho stepped on the gas and zoomed to the finish line.
With two forehand winners and three forced errors from the Slovenian-British duo, the Pinay-Indon connection made it 4-2, then sustained the charge in the next game to get on the hill.
Eala and Nugroho came out of a 0-15 deficit in the seventh game and strung up four successive points to complete their date with destiny.
source: philstar.com
